Knife Skills

Yesterday I had my knife skills test at culinary school. We all had to execute over ten cutting techniques using different vegetables like carrots, onions, and celery in a limited amount of time.

I find chopping to be quite therapeutic, but that usually means not having to pay attention to the size of my medium dice (1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2) and/or whether I julienned correctly, as I had to during our exam. Even though I worked at snail-pace, I survived without a scratch and managed to roll cut, supreme, and also mince quite nicely (probably because those are my favorite ways to cut produce!).

I find chiffonade to be a very useful technique for any leafy green. I also cut salad greens from the garden with a rough chiffonade instead of tearing them; works well. plus as an amateur home cook just knowing and using this word makes me feel a little bit more like an "expert." :)